Tuesday, May 15, 2018

NKOREA THREATENS TO CANCEL TRUMP SUMMIT

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North Korea threatens to CANCEL nuclear summit with Trump because it
believes 'provocative military ruckus' of joint U.S.-South Korea drills
are rehearsal for invasion

June 12 Singapore summit between Trump and Kim is suddenly in jeopardy

North Korean government blames joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises

Pyongyang sees the drills as a rehearsal for a full-scale invasion

Kim also canceled meeting with South Korea's president on a few hours' notice

By
David Martosko, U.S. Political Editor
and
Geoff Earle For Dailymail.com

Published:
15:02 EDT, 15 May 2018
| Updated:
18:09 EDT, 15 May 2018

North Korea's government says it is considering calling off a planned nuclear summit between dictator Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kim's
regime said through state-run news agency KCNA that ongoing 'Max
Thunder' joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea are actually a 'rehearsal for invasion' of the North.

'The
United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about
the fate of the planned North Korea-U.S. summit in light of this
provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean
authorities,' KCNA said.

White House
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement: 'We are aware of the
South Korean media report. The United States will look at what North
Korea has said independently, and continue to coordinate closely with
our allies.

North
Korean dictator Kim Jong-un's government threatened on Wednesday to call off a planned nuclear summit with President Donald Trump

This photo from 2017 shows a
vehicle carrying what appears to be an intercontinental ballistic
missile during a military parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang,
North Korea

President Trump last week
greeted three Americans who were released from North Korea as they
returned in the wee hours of the morning to an air case in suburban
Maryland

Video playing bottom right...

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency
reported that Pyongyang also canceled high-level talks with Seoul,
scheduled for later in the day.

The North Koreans cited the military drills as the reason.

The
meeting was to happen in the border town of Panmunjom, as a followup to
Kim's April meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-In.

The
Trump administration has appeared to be making progress in recent weeks
toward a new diplomatic framework with the hermit kingdom.

Tempers
had cooled following months of belligerence on both sides – Trump
called Kim 'Little Rocket Man' and Kim responded by branding him a
'mentally deranged U.S. dotard.'

Last
week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang on a mission
to retrieve three Americans held prisoner in the communist nation.

He
returned a day later with Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak-song and Tony Kim on
board his government jet. Trump, eager to reap the PR benefit of a
public splash, went to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at 2:00 in the
morning to greet them personally.

The
prisoner release was seen as a first step toward the planned summit,
which Trump announced last week would take place June 12 in Singapore.

The North Korean statement got a jump on the U.S State Department

U.S.-KOR Combine Force take part
in an annual best warrior competition at U.S. military base Camp Casey
in Dongducheon, South Korea, on 12 April 2018

'We
have no information on that,' said spokeswoman Heather Nauert, NBC
reported. 'Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We need to verify it.'

The
snag comes after North Korea began dismantling a key nuclear test site
just weeks before Kim due to meet Trump for what would be historic
summit.

Satellite images examined by
American researchers appear to show building demolitions, removal of
railways, and overturned mining carts at the Punggye-ri nuclear test
site in North Korea.

The researchers are relying on commercial satellite imagery from May 7, according to the 38 North web site.

The
site analyzed images which show significant changes that have been made
at the location which are consistent with decommissioning.

Critics
have argued that the cite already is in need of decommissioning, making
its decommissioning less of a concession than it might otherwise seem.

'Between
April 20 and May 7, 2018, the probable engineering office building and a
possible instrumentation shed located just outside the North Portal
(where the last five underground nuclear tests have been conducted) were
razed along with at least two smaller buildings or sheds,' according to
38 North.

Meanwhile, the hermetic
nation plans to join international efforts to implement a total ban on
nuclear weapons tests, its ambassador told the United Nations today.

Pyongyang
has pledged dismantle the test site some time between May 23 and May 25
in order to uphold its pledge to cease tests, its state media reported
on Saturday.

No personnel or significant activity is observed at the barracks area

Earlier
today, North Korea's ambassador to the UN in Geneva Han Tae-song
announced the country's intentions to work towards a complete ban on
tests.

'DPRK will join international
desires and efforts for a total ban on nuclear tests,' Han Tae-song said
in an address to the Conference on Disarmament, using North Korea's
official acronym.

Han told the UN
assembly that his country aimed to make more 'efforts to achieve the
development of intra-Korean relations, defuse acute military tensions
and substantially remove the danger of the war on the Korean peninsula.'

'It
will make sincere efforts... to establish a durable lasting peace
mechanism' with its neighbour to the south, he said, urging the
international community to 'extend its active support in encouraging and
promoting the current positive climate.'

The
military exercises that apparently provoked the North Korean side are
known as 'Maximum Thunder.' The drill involves F-15 and F-16 aircraft
numbering more than 80, NBC News reported.

The
annual drill has regularly been a thorn in the side of the North
Koreans. U.S. military officials say it is needed to practice the kind
of cooperation that would be necessary in any real live military
situation on the heavily-armed Korean peninsula.

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